Close Menu
  • Login
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
  • News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Video Games
      • Previews
      • PC
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X/S
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Xbox One
      • PS4
      • Tabletop
    • Film
    • TV
    • Anime
    • Comics
      • BOOM! Studios
      • Dark Horse Comics
      • DC Comics
      • IDW Publishing
      • Image Comics
      • Indie Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • Oni-Lion Forge
      • Valiant Comics
      • Vault Comics
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Event Coverage
    • BWT Recommends
    • RSS Feeds
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Support Us
But Why Tho?
RSS Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
Trending:
  • Features
    Marvel's Spider-Man Secret Lair promotional image

    Get a Look At the Secret Lair x Marvel’s Spider-Man Superdrop

    09/08/2025
    Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions gameplay still

    Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions Is All About Adventure (with Friends)

    09/08/2025
    Chord in Persona 5 The Phantom X

    Now Is The Perfect Time To Jump Back In ‘Persona 5: The Phantom X’

    09/05/2025
    Cosmic Spider-Man card details

    [EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW] The Spider-Man Set Gets A 5-Color Legendary Spider

    09/02/2025
    Lee Corso from College Football GameDay in EA Sports games

    EA Sports Always Understood Lee Corso’s Legacy

    09/01/2025
  • Indie Games
  • K-Dramas
  • Netflix
  • Apple TV+
But Why Tho?
Home » Film » REVIEW: An Unexpected Story in ‘Too Old For Fairy Tales’

REVIEW: An Unexpected Story in ‘Too Old For Fairy Tales’

Jason FlattBy Jason Flatt07/18/20224 Mins ReadUpdated:08/26/2022
Too Old For Fairy Tales - But Why Tho
Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit WhatsApp Email

Too Old For Fairy Tales - But Why Tho

Directed by Kristoffer Rus and based on the novel by Agnieszka Dabrowska, Too Old For Fairy Tales (Za Duzy Na Bajki) is a Polish-language coming-of-age story that isn’t even a little bit about what you think it will be. Our movie opens with Waldek (Maciej Karas) in the midst of preparing for his esport team’s tournament. But then the movie transforms a few times over as his mother (Karolina Gruszka) has to go away for some time and his wacky aunt (Dorota Kolak) comes to stay with him. It’s a movie about their feud, about Waldek’s relationship with his best friend and teammate Staszek (Patryk Siemek), it’s about family and lies and girls. And I guess really, in the end, it’s just about growing up.

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Truly, every single time I thought I had this movie pinned down for what it was, it completely turned around and shocked me. And in the best kind of way nearly every time. When it began, I was expecting a whole movie about the build-up to an esports tournament. Instead, what I got was a complexly layered story about a kid growing up with an overprotective mother who has to learn not only how to break free of her expectations but also how to protect her in return. Waldek’s mother is sick, and she’s hiding it. So when his eccentric aunt comes to stay, he’s both overwhelmed by her demandingness and distraught by the truth he continuously uncovers about his mother.

When Aunt Mariola first rolls onto the scene, I expected, again, that the whole movie would be about their feuding and his eventually getting her to crack while he learns some things about being older and responsible. It turns out that I simply should have stopped guessing anything about this movie the moment it started because it looks nothing like that. A seemingly harsh character at first, she is repeatedly shown in new lights, never really changing or growing, whereas our perspective of her is constantly shifting. It’s a really neat way of putting us in Waldek’s shoes as he grows too; she gets a tad softer, sure, but not by all that much, so we too have to grow into a relationship with her.

One tough spot with Mariola initially is her obsession with making Waldek exercise. He’s a fat kid, and it was rather discomforting to watch her harping on his weight and body repeatedly. It’s a factor that feels at least somewhat remedied by the fact that as time goes on, it seems that her insistence on his exercise was not really about his being fat (though she does make some crude comments) but rather comes from an anxious place of needing to be in constant motion and never standing idol. Plus, he does seem to genuinely grow to enjoy the exercise. It just clearly begins from a place of fatphobia made worse by the fact that he’s an avid video game player with dreams of being a professional, even calling himself an athlete.

One other thread of Too Old For Fairy Tales I have a slight complaint about is how late into the movie the love interest Ant (Amelia Fijalkowska) is introduced. It makes sense in the context of other plot points it serves, especially the relationship between Waldek and Staszek. But coming in so late, it prevents her from having much valuable screen time or much of an opportunity to be her own character outside of services others’ developments. She does have a pretty rad moment, but I still would like to have had her introduced just a tad earlier.

Otherwise, though, the pacing is a major part of the movie’s success for me. Its turns happen just far enough apart that they’re not sharp and hardly noticeable at the moment but close enough together that there is a good deal of them. By the end of the movie, I was in love with both Waldek and Mariola and found the whole thing charming. Waldek grows a ton from beginning to end, and while a lot of the weight of that growth lies in the script, there’s a subtle shift in the kind of confidence that Karas exudes in the end compared to the beginning. He’s just one of the sweetest kids on Netflix recently.

Too Old For Fairy Tales is hard to pin down, so rather than try and fail, I will simply recommend giving it a patient chance. It’s not what you might expect at first and really never remains one thing for too long in a way that reflects the movements of life and growing up.

Too Old For Fairy Tales is streaming exclusively on Netflix now.

Too Old For Fairy Tales
  • 7.5/10
    Rating - 7.5/10
7.5/10

TL;DR

Too Old For Fairy Tales is hard to pin down, so rather than try and fail, I will simply recommend giving it a patient chance. It’s not what you might expect at first and really never remains one thing for too long in a way that reflects the movements of life and growing up.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
Previous ArticleREVIEW: ‘Light & Magic’ A Love Letter To Filmmaking
Next Article OUTFEST LA 2022: All the Best Shorts So Far
Jason Flatt
  • X (Twitter)

Jason is the Sr. Editor at But Why Tho? and producer of the But Why Tho? Podcast. He's usually writing about foreign films, Jewish media, and summer camp.

Related Posts

The Long Walk (2025) film review promotional image
9.5

REVIEW: ‘The Long Walk’ Is The Most Heartfelt And Heartbreaking Stephen King Adaptation

09/11/2025
Natasha O’Keeffe in Whitetail
6.5

TIFF 2025: ‘Whitetail’ Is An Intimate View Of A Woman Stuck In Time

09/10/2025
Love Brooklyn
6.0

REVIEW: ‘Love, Brooklyn’ Rests on Pretty

09/10/2025
Park Jeong-min in The Ugly
7.0

TIFF 2025: ‘The Ugly’ Is A Harsh Exercise In Self-Reflection

09/09/2025
No Other Choice
9.0

TIFF 2025: ‘No Other Choice’ Delivers a Bleak Vision of Capitalism

09/09/2025
Molly Lewis in Whistle
8.0

TIFF 2025: ‘Whistle’ Is A Breath Of Fresh Air

09/07/2025

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here
TRENDING POSTS
The Long Walk (2025) film review promotional image
9.5
Film

REVIEW: ‘The Long Walk’ Is The Most Heartfelt And Heartbreaking Stephen King Adaptation

By Kate Sánchez09/11/2025Updated:09/11/2025

The Long Walk is a brutal watch. Equally heartfelt and heartbreaking, it’s one of the best adaptations of Stephen King’s work.

EA Sports FC Icons Match promotional image from Nexon News

2025 Icons Match Returns With Football Legends Bridging The Pitch And Video Games

By Kate Sánchez09/03/2025Updated:09/03/2025

NEXON has announced the return of the ‘2025 Icons Match,’ a live event that brings a full roster of legendary players to the pitch.

Black Women Anime — But Why Tho (9) BWT Recommends

10 Black Women in Anime That Made Me Feel Seen

By LaNeysha Campbell11/11/2023Updated:12/03/2024

Black women are some of anime’s most iconic characters, and that has a big impact on Black anime fans. Here are some of our favorites.

DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 11
8.5
Anime

REVIEW: ‘DanDaDan’ Season 2 Episode 11 – “Hey, It’s a Kaiju”

By Allyson Johnson09/11/2025

The ragtag group faces down the mysterious kaiju in the thrilling and beautifully animated DanDaDan Season 2 Episode 11.

But Why Tho?
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest RSS YouTube Twitch
  • CONTACT US
  • ABOUT US
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
  • Review Score Guide
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small contribution.
Written Content is Copyright © 2025 But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

But Why Tho Logo

Support Us!

We're able to keep making content thanks to readers like YOU!
Support independent media today with
Click Here